1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to turbines and, more specifically, to impart a low pressure state within a turbine blade system exhaust wake thereby enabling an increase volumetric flow through said blade system. Further providing an enablement of the present invention whereby an increase in vortex size increases the flow rate/pressure differential through the lower unit increasing the power output.
The invention provides hydro-power generation, generating power in a free flowing stream or open current of water. With increasing demands for energy and limited supplies of fossil fuels, renewable energy sources with minimal environmental impacts are critically needed. A new type of water turbine is proposed that extracts kinetic energy from a water current without the necessity of a dam to impound the current, thus reducing the environmental impact.
The Vortex Hydro Turbine uniquely utilizes flowing water entering into a vortex chamber to create a vacuum. This pressure differential is utilized to increase water velocity/pressure differential across a turbine to garner more power from the blade system than can be generated from a standard blade system. This system generates an increase in power which allows the use of fewer units per kW generation, thereby decreasing construction costs, minimizing environmental impact, and reducing operational costs.
Unshrouded blade systems are theoretically limited to a maximum efficiency of 59% (Betz limit for propeller efficiency in a free flowing stream). This invention has investigated the feasibility of generating power more efficiently by using natural currents to create a vortex inside a chamber. The vortex creates a vacuum (negative pressure) within the chamber, which results in a relatively large pressure difference from the outside to the inside of the chamber. This vacuum then induces flow into the chamber through a rotor that is connected to a generator for producing power. The efficiency of this method exceeds that of the standard unshrouded blade system, in appearing to reduce the cause of Betz limit by inducing a higher flow through the blades and a larger vacuum behind the blades so that we can produce more power from the same environmental free flowing water.
Depicted in the accompany drawings is an enablement of the aforementioned only for illustrative purposes in describing the instant invention.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are other devices designed for using vortexes. Typical of these is U.S. Pat. No. 4,101,246 issued to Erickson on Jul. 18, 1978.
Another patent was issued to Kaploun on Sep. 13, 2005 as U.S. Pat. No. 6,943,461. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 7,162,770 was issued to Davidshofer on Jan. 16, 2007 and still yet another was issued on Apr. 17, 2007 to Sewell as U.S. Pat. No. 7,204,672.